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Woodborough’s Heritage

Woodborough, a Sherwood Forest Village, recorded in Domesday

Kelly’s Directory 1932

Woodborough is a parish and large straggling village, 3½ miles north-west from Lowdham station on the Nottingham and Lincoln line of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, 8½ miles from Southwell and 7½ north-north-east from Nottingham, in the Broxtowe division of the county wapentake of Thurgarton. Basford rural district, Nottingham petty sessional division and county court district, rural deanery of Gedling, archdeaconry of Nottingham and diocese of Southwell. The church of St. Swithun is an edifice of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and a low embattled western tower with four pinnacles and containing 4 bells, dating from 1612 to 1680, and clock: there are remains of a good Norman doorway; the chancel is decorated and the tower of perpendicular date, the nave and aisles being in a later and debased style: the chancel retains very fine sedilia, and aumbry on the north side, and on either side of the communion table are stone brackets (with figures of Edward III, and his Queen): some remains of the oaken rood screen still exists and a few specimens of ancient stained glass: the east window is of stained glass, and also one in the south chancel, this latter having been erected in 1920 as a war memorial: the font is Norman: the church contains an interesting mediæval veil hook, and an ancient altar table given by a recorder of Newark to celebrate the end of the Civil War: the church plate includes a chalice and alms-dish, dated 1676, and a flagon of 1802: the church was restored during the period 1891-97, at a cost of £2,600, and affords 200 sittings. In the churchyard, which is now closed for burials, is a cross of Cornish granite, erected by local subscription, in memory of the men connected with the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. The registers date from - 1547 for baptisms, 1573 for marriages and 1572 for burials, and are in good condition. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £350, and residents, in the gift of the Bishop of Southwell, and held since 1930 by the Rev’d John Richard North Hooker B.D. of the London University. The Baptist Chapel, built in 1832 has 200 sittings, and there are Primitive Methodists and Wesleyan Chapels. A cemetery of 1 acre was formed in 1879, at a cost of £300, which has a lych gate but no chapel. Edge's charity of £2 13s. is distributed at Christmas to the poor, and part of it to the male members of the choir of the parish church. The people are employed in the framework knitting, surgical hosiery, ties and shawls. Woodborough was a Roman settlement. Woodborough Hall, the seat of Hubert A. Dowson Esq. is a very ancient mansion standing on a pleasant lawn at the extreme end of the village. The village feast, an ancient institution, is observed on the first Sunday after the 2nd of July. The Ecclesiastical commissioners are lords of the manor. The principal landowners are Lady Charnwood, the trustees of the Lt.-Col. F.E. Seely T.D., D.L., J.P. and Charles Ernest Foster Esq. The soil is clay and sand; subsoil, clay and sand. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, beans and peas; plums are strawberries are also largely grown. The area is 1945 acres; the population in 1921 was 632.

Post and telephone call office. Letters arrive through Nottingham. Epperstone is the nearest M.O. & T. office.  

Carriers to Nottingham – John Leafe & Son, Wednesdays and Saturdays. An omnibus service between Nottingham and Epperstone passes through here daily at frequent intervals.

Private Residents

(for T.N's read telephone numbers).

Austin Henry, Wayside

Booth Taylor, The Woodlands

Dowson Hubert A, Woodborough Hall

Foster Charles Ernest, Woodborough Manor

Hooker Rev. John Richard North, B.D. (Vicar), The Vicarage

Paulson Frederick, Thorneywood House

Commercial

(Marked thus * farm 150 acres or over)

Alvey Joseph - boot repairer

Baggaley Tom - farmer, Old Manor Farm

Ball J. Thomas - grocer, T.N.6

Bailey George - farmer, Bank Farm

Binch Herbert - market gardener

Bish & Wright - farmers

Bruce Mary (Mrs), grocer

Burton Albert Edward - market gardener. T.N.15

Chettle William - market gardener, Rose Dene

Clew Ernest A - Four Bells Inn

Cook Joseph - market gardener

Desborough Walter - hand knitted tie, scarf & hosiery manufacturer, T.N.20

Dring Ann (Mrs) - farmer, Shelt Hill Farm

Dunthorne Arthur - market gardener

Dunthorne Frank - smallholder

Foster Arthur Evelyn - market gardener, T.N.30

*Foster Charles Ernest - farmer and landowner, Woodborough Manor T.N.7

Foster James - market gardener, The Grange

Foster John Herbert - shopkeeper, Post Office, T.N.2

Glover Thomas & Sons Ltd - surgical hosiers, T.N.14

Hallam Wallace - farmer, Home Farm, T.N.3

Harvey Henry - farmer, Mill Farm

Hogg Leonard - joiner

Inger Walter Charles - haulage contractor

Joy W.J. & Son - market gardeners

Kelk Bertie - boot repairer

Kelk Louis - smallholder

Kirkham Alan - farmer, Bank Farm

Leafe John & Son - carriers

Marriott Harriet (Miss) - shopkeeper

Mawbey Frederick Harris - pianoforte tuner

Milner William Harold - blacksmith

Nurcombe Thomas Arthur - joiner

Parker William Henry - butcher T.N.10

*Poole Charles Ernest - farm bailiff to John Poole Esq. Park Farm

Raynor Aaron Hardy - dentist (attends Thursday 3-5 p.m.)

Roe Cyril - poultry farmer, Foxwood House

Savage Sydney Charles - carpenter

Shaw Arthur - Nags Head Public House, T.N.45

Spencer David - market gardener and rate collector

Stanfield Albert Victor - farmer, Woodborough Wood [Farm]

Stevenson Joseph - cow keeper

Sutton John - farmer

Turtle John - farmer

Ward Herbert - market gardener

Wheatley Ethel Miriam (Miss) - poultry farmer

Woodborough Industrial & Provident Society Ltd

Wright Charles - newsagent and parish clerk